Last week Skyrim took a world tour — with the game being shown to press in San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, and across Europe. Read press impressions at the following sites:

Destructoid – “‘Epic’ is a word that has been thrown around to the point of irrelevance, but it’s absolutely the right word for Skyrim. Skyrim is huge, majestic, and genuinely awe-insipring. I have no doubt that hardcore Elder Scrolls fans will play this game for the next half a decade.”

DualShockers – “Playing three hours of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim was the best tease I’ve ever had”

The Sixth Axis – ” Skyrim isn’t just 2011’s biggest RPG, it could just be the best ever. You should be very, very excited.”

Shacknews – “Very few games get such a charge of excitement out of me, but Skyrim is probably my most anticipated game of the year.”

New York Post – “From the limited time I had with Skyrim, I can say with confidence that this will be one of the biggest and most engrossing titles ever. The massive world, numerous side quests and the seemingly endless paths will certainly make Skyrim a game worthy of the Elder Scrolls name.”

CVG - “But what we can’t do is present our readership with a full picture. We can’t put them in the mind-set of being swallowed by the incredible world that Skyrim contains, or becoming immersed in its truly epic storyline.”

Joystiq – “Ever since Skyrim was announced, I’ve had one thing on my mind: dragons. You see, I need to kill them. I need to kill an infinite number of dragons. I don’t know what it is that is fueling this need within me, but there it is: I’m a genocidal maniac and every last dragon must die.”

Videogamer – “The franchise has always prided itself on its open world tendencies, but this is easily working up to have the most vivid depiction of a fantasy setting in an RPG.”

G4TV – “The weather mechanics implemented into Skyrim are the best I’ve ever seen. The blizzard I walked through looked like snow, milky white diamonds plummeting to the ground.”

Kotaku - “Skyrim is so immersive and deep an experience that a person could play for a third of a work day and never even brush by the main storyline.”

Wired – “Though the three-hour demo didn’t answer those heavy questions, it did get me pumped to spend hundreds more hours immersed in Skyrim’s ridiculously detailed world next month. And the first thing I’m going to do when I pick up the game again is collect better loot, max out my skills and slay that freaking dragon. I can’t wait.”IncGamers - “And what a world. After exiting a small, claustrophobic, dimly-lit cave we emerge into a landscape composed of a lush green grass and trees, vividly-coloured wild flowers, galloping deer, stalking foxes and singing birds. In the distance we see blue-grey ice capped mountains sheltered by imposing dark clouds. Separating the distinct hues of blue and green is a river, at some points flowing gently, at others rushing over rocks to form small whirlpools and dramatic waterfalls.”

IGN – “Skyrim feels like a real place, from the way the wind kicks up snow from the edges of rocky cliffs to the way the surface of ponds ripples under a light rain. It’s packed with structured content, but also filled with plenty more reasons to explore.”

VG247 – “Bleak Falls Barrow is a dungeon immediately more memorable than any from Oblivion: vegetation fighting to gain a hold amongst the cold rock, low tunnels giving way to exposed chambers through which the bleak sky can be glimpsed and a narrow bridge hewn from the rock spanning an abyss into which an underground waterfall cascades.”

Married with Videogames – “Bethesda took a lot of elements from Fallout 3 and Oblivion to create what is going to be a fantastic game that will keep you quite busy throughout this holiday season and for quite sometime after that.”

Tech Digest TV – “A game that may well not just meet the hype, but best it”

Inside Gaming (Machinima) – “While your character will no doubt be at the center of your Skyrim experience, it’s the game worlds of The Elder Scrolls series that are always the stars of the show. It’s tough to say just how big Skyrim’s world is compared to the other games, but even in our short play session it’s obvious this is quite an expansive slab of land.”

Coin-Op.TV – “Skyrim looks great and we already know that Bethesda is going to bring us a fantastic story and exploration of the world. I played about two hours of the game mostly in third person perspective and can say that Bethesda has really opened up the world and nailed this point of view – makes me wonder how I made it through those earlier games in first person view!”

Morrowind,Oblivion,Fallout3 and New Vegas the idea of one game being made up with elements from all 4 games is spin chilling.

But the one thing that Bethesda has seem to hit on the head is “Dragons” 100s upon 100s of fantasy games out there and dragons only make a brief appearance if any. The though of going up a mountain looking for a bandit camp to loot to find a dragon who sees me as his afternoon lunch.

I cant wait for Skyrim!! I have a countdown clock downloaded onto my computer. This is a game worth waiting for even though I will become a dweller of my own home.. seeing no sunlight for days. (besides school of course.) This game will probably make me fail. Bahaha!!

Several months before this game’s release, I’ve found myself getting immensely consumed and obsessed with this game. I’ve spent hours of each day searching for new info on Skyrim. I believe this game will leave quite the impact on, not just the RPG genre, but all aspect of the future of gaming. Prepare to lose half a year of your life to the game of the century!

although rage may have had it’s issues and this is true with other bethesda game studios, projects the fact remains that they continue to push the limit on what we think a single player rpg experience should be. I know i could still go back and play threw oblivion or Fallout 3 a new way and do new things, even after putting in countless hours into at least 3 characters on each game

I hope you wont have to, Unfortunately there are too many jerks on either side to just enjoy a thoughtful discussion. Although I assume those that use profane language to state there point are under 18 years of age. Shame on those of you who are old with those harsh things to say!

Look I hate being shot down by this very common question, but You see how DICE (Battlefield 3) has made a little effort into using all the resource on all platforms to show the quality of their work.Could you at least give use a official statement on the ever shouting concerns that this will be a half baked port, Please don’t take offense but I fell like us PS3 owners never get the best from Bethesda. Looking back almost every title something was not coded right or poorly. I trust this was an educated and thoughtful question for all those PS3 owners that are much too few voicing there RAGE of lack of info.

From the well versed to the first time TES previewer Everybody loved the game and it was the alpha build as i understand so i can’t wait for the Full version to ship to me on 11/11/11! Im now single, pushing friends away and denying a social life no matter who calls or texts just to make room for Skyrim in between work

I’ve already requested vacation days for a four day weekend when this comes out, based on what I’ve seen in the previews I’ll probably spend the first three just wandering the landscape marvelling in the beauty of it. It’s gonna be the best weekend ever, ever!

Thank You Bethesda for the passion you pour into your products. It makes me second guess spending $60 for any other game on the market, but for Bethesda I will gladly upgrade to the CE, spend $150, and have no buyers remorse.

man i cant wait to play this game i had this game bought when it was first avalible man dragons and giants this is amazing. i wonder if you be able to finally own a real dog not the skinned dog from oblivion. i hear that alot of amazing stuff about this game like even u can get married in it. if its that crazy well hell yeah i’m in.

There is absolutely no one and I repeat, no one does role playing games like Bethesda. Before I played Morrowind, I used to play all of the Japanese role playing games, but since Morrowind, I never touch them! I’ve been spoiled by Beth and their vast open worlds where I can do anything, go anywhere and in any direction. I become totally immersed as if I AM there in that world! Five years is a long long time to wait to again inhabit that world and I look forward as a Nord to going home at last to the place of my birth.

I’ve booked two weeks off work so I can start this adventure in comfort. Loved Oblivion so bought up the other ES games. I clocked up about 500 hours all together on Oblivion so this is going to be EPIC!!

i cant wait for this game… i never buy any dlc but the elder scrolls are a diffrent story, when the first dlc comes out i am going to buy it as soon as possible. and i have always been fascinated with vikings so i am going to love this game

I’ve always adored The Elder Scrolls games. They’ve always been full of depth, fantastic environments and whilst there has been the occasional glitch, its merely a smudge in an otherwise spotless record for each game.
I can’t wait for this! I’ve been looking forward to Skyrim more then any other game. Its just a shame it coincides with revision for Re-sits, really. But I’ll still find the time… I’m sure my social life has time it can pass towards it.
Also, my friends and I all agree that from Oblivion onwards, (including Fallout/:New Vegas) would’ve maybe been nice with Co-Op. Its probably a very hard element to add to the game, but it would be great fun! Killing Dragons with a friend and using the preferred playstyles of both to play through would be awesome! But I suppose you must have more in-depth reasons why a Co-Op mode never went on one?
In any case, I can’t wait! I really think you’ve hit the nail on the head for Skyrim. I hope it wins Game of the Year, it deserves as much. Very well done to the whole team for creating this masterpiece of modern gaming.

I was one of the few to also play Skyrim at a recent conference I was sent to. Probably one of the greatest experiences of my life. I literally jumped for joy at a couple of key points while I was playing. This is absolutely my most anticipated game this year!

I just wish someone would get to play the game on PC and PS3, and relate the experience. The idea wouldn’t be to compare and contrast but to merely speak the the existence and experience of playing the game on those machines.

Heck, even a few lines from a QA person who has played/tested on PC and PS3 would be a welcome break from the stress of not getting any specific information how the game looks and works on anything but the 360. “The game looks and works great on the PS3. The experience is exactly the same as when playing it on the 360.” It’d go a long way.

All of these previews are on the 360. EVERY preview I’ve seen over the last 8 months has been about the 360 version. I’m glad to know that the people who own 360s will be getting a good experience, but the fact that there’s been utter silence on the PC front has me a little unsettled. Less than a month before release, and you folks still haven’t shown ANYTHING about other platforms

I bought my old PC to play Oblivion, back in those days. I recently spent a good $1000 to put together a new PC, specifically so I’ll be able to play Skyrim when it comes out. Yet all I hear is 360-exclusive information. It’s freaking me out. This is a basic marketing thing: when you focus your marketing this exclusively on one system, you are telling the customers “this is the system we care about, this is what we’re focusing on, this is the ONLY system we’re really putting effort into making work right.”

I don’t think that’s the message you’re trying to send, but it IS the message I’m starting to get; because we are only a few weeks away from launch, and you are still only hyping the 360 version of the game. That was fine when we were months out, but we’re not months out any more. We need to see that you’re paying just as much attention to the other versions of the game. We need to see that you care about them. Please.

Also, the 360 bit is a Microsoft thing. If you look, Microsoft got an exclusive deal on early DLC for Skyrim. I’m betting they tossed the idea to the team that the previews should be on the 360. I’m not mad about that. It doesn’t make much of a difference as I expect near equal quality, and if it earns Bethesda more money, well good for them

That’s great, but I’m starting to but fell left out because my platform of choice happens to be a playstation 3. Any other exclusives that you have in store for the xbox 360 version will be a shot to the back.